My personal experience has been after i have been out of Canada for 1 week. the first time i bought one 60oz bottle of spirits back they questioned me but waved me through. The second time i brought two 60oz through they sent me to secondary had me pull the bottles out of my bags and then waved me through.
My sister also brought back a bottle of wine after being out of the country for about half a day they made her go to secondary but still didn't assess any fee.
The custom agents have a fair amount of leeway. The general consensus is that they will usually let you go if they don't think that there is enough money to make it worth wild
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mooyootoo
I'm heading to Italy in a month, and plan to bring back some wine with me, so I've been researching this. The fees are set by province, and you pay at your point of entry into Canada (even if you're connecting to your home province). The provincial websites are awful, so the most accurate way would likely still be to actually phone the CBSA, sadly.
All the rates are here: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publicati...d2-3-6-eng.pdf
You want to look at Appendix B (page 6). Note that the limits on the amounts you can bring in vary considerably by province. Alberta is 9.09L (i.e. a case of 12 bottles of wine), yet Ontario allows 45L.
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Anecdotally, there are different tolerances for the amounts at each port of entry.
BY road, I can usually return with a bottle of wine and a tank of gas (exempt) after having been out of Canada for 20 minutes and I will usually get waved up.
There is high tax on liquor so exceeding the duty free limit is not recommended in my opinion.
My personal experience has been after i have been out of Canada for 1 week. the first time i bought one 60oz bottle of spirits back they questioned me but waved me through. The second time i brought two 60oz through they sent me to secondary had me pull the bottles out of my bags and then waved me through.
My sister also brought back a bottle of wine after being out of the country for about half a day they made her go to secondary but still didn't assess any fee.
The custom agents have a fair amount of leeway. The general consensus is that they will usually let you go if they don't think that there is enough money to make it worth wild
It's quite discretionary however, with recently publicity how day trips have risen to the USA, you can be fairly certain you will get dinged on taxes.
One CBSA agent that I recently ran across said to me that a general guide on how much taxes and duty you will get charged will be at least the same price you paid for the liquor or the total cost will be twice what you paid for it. making it not worth your while to bring back unless of course it is a liquor or wine that isn't normally available back home. BTW, even in the USA, on liquor and wine bottles they now say ml or litres. I have no idea what 60 oz is, lol.
I'm planning a trip to Portland for a couple of days. So I will be out of the country for more than 48 hours.
My question is, when I come back to BC and stop by the duty free store to get a... say $2000 bottle of liquor that is 750 mL, will I have to pay any duties/taxes? I've searched online and all I've found is information about bringing more than 1 bottle back. I can't seem to find any information about this situation.
My question is, when I come back to BC and stop by the duty free store to get a... say $2000 bottle of liquor that is 750 mL, will I have to pay any duties/taxes?
Yes.
If you're gone two sleeps you can bring back up to $800 worth of stuff. Your liquor would be included in that $800.
So if the bottle is $500 you can bring in an additional $300 worth of merchandise.
Blondee, I think Polar Man is referring to a Magnum bottle which is 1.75L = 59.2 oz. IIRC it replaced the 64-oz. (US half-gallon) bottles in the 1970s.
__________________ Instead of "Premium Economy," the airlines should bring back the old name "Tourist Class!"
If you're gone two sleeps you can bring back up to $800 worth of stuff. Your liquor would be included in that $800.
So if the bottle is $500 you can bring in an additional $300 worth of merchandise.
except for tobacco and alcohol, goods you claim in your seven-day exemption (CAN$800) may be shipped to your home by mail, courier or other means of transportation.
Alcoholic beverages
You are allowed to import only one of the following amounts of alcohol free of duty and taxes:
1.5 litres (53 imperial ounces) of wine;
a total of 1.14 litres (40 ounces) of alcoholic beverages; or
up to a maximum of 8.5 litres of beer or ale.
Alcoholic beverages are products that exceed 0.5% alcohol by volume. Minimum ages for the importation of alcoholic beverages, as prescribed by provincial or territorial authorities, are 18 years for the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec and 19 years for the remaining provinces and territories.
Note
The CBSA classifies "cooler" products according to the alcoholic beverage they contain. For example, beer coolers are considered to be beer and wine coolers are considered to be wine. Alcohol and wine products not exceeding 0.5% alcohol by volume are not considered to be alcoholic beverages.
The quantities of alcohol you can bring in must be within the limit set by the province or territory where you will enter Canada. If the value of the goods is more than your personal exemption, you will have to pay both duty and taxes, as well as provincial/territorial assessments. In Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, you cannot bring in more than the quantities of alcohol allowed. For more information, contact the appropriate provincial or territorial liquor control authority before you arrive back in Canada.
I'm planning a trip to Portland for a couple of days.
Quote:
Originally Posted by blondee_yvr
except for tobacco and alcohol, goods you claim in your seven-day exemption (CAN$800) may be shipped to your home by mail, courier or other means of transportation.
FMGT is only gone for 'a couple of days' so seven-day exemption details don't apply.
What the H type/brand of liquor costs $4000 a bottle??
I would expect to pay GST & maybe percentage duty. Trouble is, IIRC the Canada Customs form at airports asks for the value of all the goods. If U were driving into Canada, U could probably answer the 'Anything to declare?' question with, 'Yes Sir/Ma'am: 2 T-shirts & a bottle of liquor.' Very few officers would ask U the price of the bottle because they'd never dream it could be >$800! So they'd wave U thru!
__________________ Instead of "Premium Economy," the airlines should bring back the old name "Tourist Class!"
Anyone have experience brining back a bottle of liquor that greatly exceeds your $ exemption?
For example, I want to bring a 750ml bottle of liquor with a purchase value of $4000 while only having an $800 exemption.
Do I just pay BC taxes on the $3200 or am I also subject to crazy duties?
This is really interesting... let us know how it goes! "Sir, what did you buy for $4000?" "A bottle of heaven."
Unfortunately, my assumption would be in line with Brendan's... you'd be stuck paying taxes and duties since you'd be exceeding your exemption. And I think you'd have to pay it on the whole $4000. I remember the only time I was past my exemption was returning from my honeymoon and the agent in secondary was trying to "separate" my purchases into "we'll pass these under your exemption" and "we'll charge you for these" piles because you couldn't "half-exempt" an item.
OT, but under US Customs rules for Americans returning home, only the amount over the exemption ($4000 - $800 = $3200) would be dutiable. Also, too bad Canada Customs does not allow 'pooling' by families while US does: If a woman buys $2300 in clothing on a shopping spree & arrives back with her husband & 1 child who have bought (next to) nothing, it's all tax-free under 3x$800 exemptions! Also, US Customs taxes on the retail price in the country where U bought the merchandise--IDK about Canada!
__________________ Instead of "Premium Economy," the airlines should bring back the old name "Tourist Class!"
Back to PolarMan & 60-oz. bottles: The duty-free limit into Canada is 1 Imperial Quart which = 40oz. = 1.14 litres. I'm surprised that they waved U thru duty-free on 2x 60 oz. bottles!
As an American, I know that US Customs rarely bothers to collect duty on small overages. They don't want to waste time to collect $5--20 tax from each of 100 law-abiding citizens at the risk of allowing kilograms of cocaine &or terrorists to slide in!
__________________ Instead of "Premium Economy," the airlines should bring back the old name "Tourist Class!"
